6 Signs you’re REALLY a Dog person

I am a Dog Person. I just like them, period. This has taken me far, from sports training to rescue and adoption.

One day, I joined a club to meet like-minded Dog lovers. Though some behaviors I found strange and even bordering on obsession, everybody accepted and affirmed them as “normal”. We all loved our animal companions, after all.

6 SIGNS YOU’RE HOPELESSLY A DOG PERSON

In case you’re wondering if you’re really a Dog person, these might provide more clarity.

YOU’RE ALREADY A DOG PARENT

You studied responsible ways to care for your Dog and apply what you read. You’ve probably even joined a club where you can exchange notes and share experiences with other Dog people.

YOUR FACEBOOK POSTS ARE ALWAYS ABOUT DOGS

Maybe your friends have noticed, and they’ve made remarks about how Dogs are all they see from your profile.

Your cellphone opens up with a photo of your Dog wearing a cap, bow tie, or John Lennon glasses. Your gallery is full of photos of your canine companion sleeping, eating, or playing.

Your Dog is your online avatar.

YOU OBSESS ABOUT DOGS

You can’t stop talking about your canine companions.

I know of one Dog owner who could not stop talking about her beloved Retriever. She gave him a personality and regaled us all day with his antics. Her Facebook photos were always about the Retriever. One photo alone could produce some of the funniest captions ever. The Dog was her inspiration and the center of her life.

When I used to meet with the late Fred Alimusa, the country’s first “Dog Whisperer,” I tried not to bring up Dogs. He had TV talk shows, tapings, and many Dog clubs clamoring for his attention, so he must be talking about Dogs all day. I would respectfully steer the conversations elsewhere to give him a rest.

But it never worked. As soon as Fred sat down, he plunged into the subject of Dogs and would not stop.

I guess our famous Fil-Am Dog behaviorist was just as obsessed as any Dog lover.

DOG CRATES OCCUPY YOUR LIVING ROOM

I know of one club member who lined up her Dog cages neatly along one wall of her living room.

That living room set-up can be understood only by another Dog lover. I found it very practical; it’s the best way you can keep an eye on your beloved animal companions.

YOU OWN NOVELTY ITEMS THAT REMIND YOU OF YOUR DOG

Right now, Corgis are trending; keychains, wall clocks, bags, stickers – you name it – are all the hype.

YOU’RE CONSIDERING ADOPTING ONE MORE DOG

Dogs always liven up a home with their positive energy. Their presence is healing. That’s why you can’t refuse one more.

THE FATE OF DOGS IN POUNDS

I’ve been to city pounds in the past. They’re experiences you would not want to live again.

The captured Dogs live in small wire cages piled one atop the other. They never leave their confinements. They stay there for life. Nobody visits them, takes them out for a daily exercise, or gives them a taste of interaction with people, except for the assigned caretaker who gives them water and meager meals.

They don’t have baths to cool off. Nothing to fight their fleas. They have no playtime. They bark all day because they’re unhappy.

Dogs just loitering outside their homes when they were unfortunately captured and brought to the pound spend their days staring out their cages waiting for their humans to come and get them. Some are never redeemed.

Their masters abandon them there.

Sickness spreads among them in these tight quarters. If a healthy Dog joins this hell hole of a place, they become unrecognizable after a month. The emotional and physical distress waste them away.

In one of these pounds, I saw a Dog in a catatonic trance. He stared at a wall all day and was unresponsive. He had shut down. His grief, despair, and sense of hopelessness had been too much for him. He tuned himself out. When a friend of mine got him, it took almost a year before the Dog became himself again. It was a very slow rehabilitation.

I was once with a group who visited a pound during one hot summer, and I saw Dogs in multilevel wire cages barking and suffering in the stifling heat, the metal roof of their cages inches above their heads. Dogs died there every day from malnutrition, heat stroke, and dehydration.

The staff (whom I did not think were Dog lovers) must’ve felt relief at every death. It loosened up the cages so the new unfortunate captives could be pushed in upon their arrival.

We donated a few meters of insulation for the cages so that the Dogs could have some relief from the heat. One of us stayed behind and helped put it up to make sure the insulation sheets went to the cages and nowhere else.

That’s why I vehemently protest when anybody suggests delivering an unwanted Dog to the city pound. That is their last stop on earth.

. . . I vehemently protest when anybody suggests delivering an unwanted Dog to the city pound. That is their last stop on earth.

THIS MUST BE A COMMUNITY EFFORT

A Dog in the pound will die a slow death, because the government cannot give them sufficient importance to fund for their welfare.

Now I understand the growth of private rescue shelters. But without funding of any sort, these groups can only do so much.

The stray Dog solution must be a community effort. No big-hearted individual can shoulder the cost of running a shelter just so homeless Dogs can have a place to stay. Their numbers increase every year.

I also understand now the vital importance of spaying and neutering. One young and fertile female Dog can produce five to six puppies twice a year. Again, another ten to twelve puppies the next year, and so on. The population multiplies exponentially.

This has to stop, or else the shelters may close due to bankruptcy, and more Dogs will fill up the pounds beyond capacity.

When the residents in my village started to complain about the strays in the streets because they couldn’t walk in the mornings without carrying a stick, I proposed in our group chat that they should feed them. When they complained of the upturned garbage cans every morning, I explained that the Dogs were hungry and would look for food after waking up.

In our street, some houses have begun laying out plates of food for stray Cats and Dogs. When Dogs are fed and their hunger is abated, they become playful and less hostile to passersby.